When developing a catalyst, two of the parameters that are most important are the size of the particles that comprise the catalytic material and the thermal stability of those particles. Particle size is important because it relates to surface area, and increasing the surface area can increase efficiency; larger surface areas will provide more places at which the catalytic material may come into contact with substances to be catalyzed. Thermal stability is important, because for many catalytic reactions, a high temperature process is either required or advantageous for better yield, and in order for a catalyst to be effective, the catalyst itself must be stable at those temperatures.
Unfortunately, known technologies for developing particles for use in catalyst applications suffer from being unable to produce particles that have both sufficiently high surface area to mass ratios and sufficiently high thermal stability. For example, porous and mesoporous zirconia products with desirable surface area to mass ratios have been employed in catalysis applications. However, under presently existing technologies, the highly porous structure of those products renders the particles less than optimally efficient during high temperature treatment. According to other known methods, one may produce particles with high thermal stability, but those particles have unacceptable surface area to mass ratios.
Thus, there remains a need to develop compositions comprised of thermally stable nanoparticles that have high surface area to mass ratios. The present invention provides a solution.